Scania is testing Sweden’s first wirelessly charged hybrid city bus

A wirelessly charged electric city bus is about to hit the streets of Sweden. Scania is launching a sustainable public transit project in the streets of Södertälje, Sweden in June 2016 to see if the technology could be viable across the world. The system works by allowing the bus to charge in just six or seven minutes wirelessly from the road surface at a bus stop, eliminating the need for long recharges or bulky plugs so the bus can keep going on its journey.

The city currently has 2,000 city buses, which adds up to over 13 million gallons of fuel every year. Replacing the entire bus fleet could save up to 90 percent of that fuel. Each bus is fitted with a receiver under the floor which uses induction to wirelessly charge the vehicle via an electrified road. This is the first time that Scania has tested the technology in a real-life situation and will help reveal whether or not it could work throughout the world.

If all goes according to plan, passengers won’t notice the difference between dirty old combustion driven buses and these new ones. “We want to learn more about the technology and how the systems perform together but also how passengers and drivers perceive it. Our goal is that they will not see any differences,” said Håkan Sundelin, coordinator for Scania.